INTERVIEW: King Charles

King Charles is set to release his third album ‘Out Of My Mind’ on April 17th. Ahead of the release we catch up with the man himself amid lock down to find out what he’s doing with his time and what to expect from the release…

Gigslutz: Hey! So these are strange times at the minute, what are you doing with your time?

King Charles: I’ve definitely got enough to do! I’ve got a few instruments here, I’ve got a little studio so I’ve been getting into some recording, some writing, some jamming. It’s been quite fun actually.

Gigslutz: Have you thought about doing any online live gigs or anything like that?

King Charles: I’ve done a couple of live things Nothing too formal. But yeah, it’s fun I try and take the positives of it.

Gigslutz: Indeed. You’ve shared the new music video for ‘Deeper Love/Freak’ today. Can you tell us a bit about the idea of that video and doing two songs in one?

King Charles: Well, the idea was to kind of put the two stories together, so that they would tell a slightly larger tale combining the different emotions. We wanted to create narrative emotionally and in the course of the video. I think Ben Clover, the director, did a great job of getting from the start of the video through the different tracks and then ending back in the same place so it’s a journey told by the song.

Gigslutz: Great, and do you enjoy doing videos? Is that something you enjoy as an artist?

King Charles: Yeah. The world of videos is huge, enormous, and there’s so much human activity that goes into creating a video, and I love being around those different inspirations and those different kind of ideas and different excitements. And it’s amazing to be part of that and then how it kind of differs from song and experience to experience, it’s…yeah, it’s great to be a part of.

Gigslutz: Do you have a lot of input yourself when they’re doing it?

King Charles: I guess you do to a certain extent in as far as who you want to make the video, what ideas they have that they want to use. You make a certain amount of decisions at the beginning, but when it comes to the directing of it and the production of it, I’ve got no input whatsoever. And I love that, I can just be directed and be a part of a production.

Gigslutz: So we’ve got your new album coming out on the 17th of April;what can we expect from the release?

King Charles: I think it’s an unexpected turn in a kind of sonic direction. I think it will be an experience listening to it, and after two months close to isolation by then and I think many people will have been driven out of their minds, so they’ll probably see eye to eye with the album. Conceptually, as much as anything.

Gigslutz: Is it something of a concept album?

King Charles: I don’t think so. I think everything involved in its kind of creation was just the elements came together and I guess became a concept that unified the album, but I didn’t have a concept that I was following, or that led the process.

Gigslutz: And the title, “Out of My Mind,” what made you come up with that name for the album?

King Charles: I think that was probably a good sort of mark or stamp or the
conceptual identity of the album, you know, once there was a concept
established, by the end of it, I feel like that best described the themes of a
lot of the music.

Gigslutz: And do you have a particular favourite track on the album? I know it’s always a difficult one to choose a favourite track, but is there one in particular that stands out for you?

King Charles: I think I have different favourites at different times. I think
the one that I’m most happy to have released and be releasing in an album is ‘Freak’.

Gigslutz: Any particular reason on that one?

King Charles: I feel like everything that went into that song, all the emotions
and the time of my life, I feel like getting this song out is a real relief and
a release for me, and it kind of vanquishes those…all of that time.

Gigslutz: How has this album it differed from your previous work?

King Charles: There are some new musicians on the album, Matthew Wilder’s the producer in LA that I worked with and it was a different structure and format of recording and producing the album. I did a lot of it in my studio in London and then it was back and forth to Los Angeles and I wouldn’t say it was a struggle, but I had to stay on top of getting it in the bag. It took quite a long time from start to finish, so I’m very happy we’ve got to where we are now.

Gigslutz: And then back out on the road in October. After all this lockdown, you must be really looking forward to playing live again?

King Charles: Yeah, definitely. I love being on stage and I love travelling and
I love new people and new venues. I mean, that’s the kind of thrill I keep chasing.

Gigslutz: So in terms of when you do get to play live, it’s obviously sort of a bit down the line now from when it was meant to be but have you had any thoughts on what your set list will look like?

King Charles: I think it will be my interpretation of kind of the greatest hits
of the last, yeah, of the three albums that I’ve released, maybe a few uncut
numbers. It’ll be all my favourites, and I hope, you know, everyone else’s
favourites as well. I love playing what other people’s favourites are. I love
that.

Gigslutz: Do you have any plans further down the line after the tour’s done? Another album maybe?

King Charles: Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I’m starting as soon as possible with that.